A shared budget for your household, couple or trip group
A space is one ledger with its own wallets, budgets and main currency. You can keep a private space for yourself and share another with the people you live with. Each person adds from their own device, and the budget updates for everyone.
Everyone sees the same numbers
Groceries added by one person show up for the other. Budgets say what is left for the household, not per phone.
Private and shared, side by side
Your own space stays yours. Switch between spaces from the top of Home.
Invite with a code
Share a short join code. It works for fourteen days and only while the space has a free seat, so an old screenshot cannot let someone in later. A space holds up to six people.
Short-lived groups get a Group pass
For a trip with friends or a one-off project, a Group pass opens one space to six people for sixty days with a single payment, no subscription.
Sharing a space you own needs Tavala Plus or a Group pass. Joining a space someone else shares with you is free on every plan.
Shared and private, side by side
A space is a separate set of books: its own wallets, entries, budgets, categories, recurring bills, bank connections and main currency. Most households end up with more than one: a shared space for rent, groceries and the car, and a private space each for whatever is nobody else's business. People in one space cannot see your other spaces, and switching between them is the space name at the top of Home.
Sharing one space shares everything in it. There is no hidden column and no per-entry privacy, which is exactly why private spaces exist: keep the things you do not want to discuss in a space nobody else is in.
Who can do what
Every space has one owner and up to five members, six people in all. Everyone can see every entry and add or edit entries, wallets, budgets, categories and recurring bills. Only the owner can rename the space, change its main currency, invite people or remove a member. Entries do not show who added them; the app does not attribute money to people.
Inside a shared space the owner's plan decides what the space allows (how many people, how many currencies, the forecast and the debt tools). Each person's own plan decides their synced devices and how many spaces they own. A member on the free plan gets everything the owner's Plus opens, in that space.
What it costs, stated plainly
Sharing a space you own is part of Tavala Plus. One subscription covers everyone you invite, and the people who join never pay. For a trip with friends or a short project there is the Group pass: one payment opens one space to six people for sixty days, with no subscription. When Plus or a pass ends, nothing is deleted; the space follows the owner's free plan, where only the owner can add and members keep read access.
One household, three spaces
Two partners who keep separate accounts and share the household costs. Amounts are examples.
| Space | Who is in it | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| HouseholdShared, main currency EUR | Both partners | Rent €1,400, groceries, the car, a budget of €600 for food |
| AnaPrivate | Ana only | Her own card, her savings goal, her gifts budget |
| MarkoPrivate, main currency USD | Marko only | His US account, freelance income in dollars, his own debts |
Sharing in other budgeting apps
How many people can share, what the second person pays, and whether one person can keep a private budget beside the shared one.
| What | Tavala | YNAB | Monarch | Honeydue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharing | Up to 6 people per spacePart of Plus; people you invite never pay | Up to 6 peopleYNAB Together: one subscription, a login each | Household members freeEach with their own login | Two partnersEach chooses what to share |
| Price | Free; Plus $39.99 a yearor $6.99 a month on the web | $109 a yearor $14.99 a month; 34-day trial | $99.99 a yearor $14.99 a month (Core); Plus $199.99 a year | FreeOptional tips in the App Store |
| Currencies | Every currency in one space155 currencies and 96 cryptocurrencies; 2 per space on the free plan | One per planIts advice for several: a separate plan for each | No conversionShows every amount as $; USD or CAD accounts advised | Not stated |
| Works offline | Every screenChanges sync when you are back online | Advertised"even offline!" on its features page | Not stated | Not stated |
Questions about shared spaces
- Does my partner need to pay to join my space?
- No. Joining a shared space is free. The person who owns the space needs Tavala Plus or a Group pass to share it.
- Can I see who added an expense?
- No. Everyone in a space sees the same entries, and entries do not show who added them.
- Can one person be in several spaces?
- Yes. You can own private spaces and be a member of others, and switch between them from Home.
- Can members see my private spaces?
- No. Members of a shared space see only that space. Your other spaces stay yours.
- Can I have a viewer who can read but not edit?
- No. There is no read-only role: everyone in a space can add and edit entries. The only time members are read-only is when the owner's Plus or Group pass ends.
- Does everyone need an account?
- Yes. Sharing needs an account for the owner and for each person who joins, because a shared space syncs between their devices.
Go further
- Budgeting apps for couplesThe honest list, by how you keep your money.
- Split bills by incomeA fair share of the household's bills for two incomes.
- Trips and projectsA shared trip, kept apart from the household budget.
- Budgets and billsOne budget that says what is left for the household.
- Spaces: keep separate money separateA space holds its own wallets, entries and budgets. Switch spaces from Home, create more, and share one with the people you budget with.
- What each member of a space can doA space has one owner and its members. Everyone can add and edit entries; only the owner renames the space, invites, removes people and changes the currency.
Also in Tavala
- Ask Tavala AI AgentQuestions answered from your ledger, and changes you confirm.
- Multi-currencyThe rate from the day you paid, kept on every entry.
- Offline-first and privateEvery screen works with no connection and no account.
- Budgets, bills and forecastWhat is left, and what is safe to spend before pay day.
- Debt payoffSnowball or avalanche, and the month you are debt-free.
- Bank sync (US and Canada)Read-only import from US and Canadian banks, through Plaid.
- Trips and projectsA trip or a project kept apart from everyday spending.
Start with what you spent today.
There is no account to create and no card to enter. Pick your currency, add what you paid, and Home shows what is left.